Bracket Buster

[fan]

I for one will be hoping for a George Mason show down as they accepted me to their Law School last week. Still waiting on the other applications but George Mason would be solid.

[nighthawk]

As long as we don't choke this week on the road, our RPI will be sufficiently high to warrant top billing and the top match up in the Bracket Buster lineup, in my opinion.

the Sweet 16 run game us some limited name recognition, which helps as well.

I look forward to a top mid major match-up on the mothership in prime time. Let's hope that game doesn't become another UWGB ESPN tank.

[JimmyLemke]

kroener3535 said:

Indiana State would be fun just cause of it being Larry Bird's ol stomping grounds but I dont really care to be honest as llong as we get an opponent who gets some exposure as an elite mid-major and we beat em

Bucknell definitely fits that bill.

[coocoo]

yeah... I am a Mason fan. Did a search on "george Mason" and "Bracket Buster" and it led me here. Our game vs ODU is big. They beat us at their place on a last second long 3 pointer. Actually, all of our loses have been close except Creighton (we just didn't show up) - OT loss @ Wake Forest, 2 point loss @ Miss St., and we were down 1 in the last minute @ UNCW.

Oh, and congrats on the Mason law school... our law school is up and coming and rated very well.

Here are the new matchups according to The Bracketboard:

1. Bucknell at Northern Iowa
2. Missouri State at UW-Milwaukee
3. George Mason at Wichita State
4. Akron at Creighton
5. Northern Illinois at Southern Illinois
6. Tennessee Tech at Old Dominion
7. Northwestern State at Manhattan
8. Samford at Western Kentucky
9. Drake at Utah State
10. Louisiana Tech at Iona
11. Fresno State at Winthrop

[germanathens]

1. Bucknell at Northern Iowa
2. Missouri State at UW-Milwaukee
3. George Mason at Wichita State
4. Akron at Creighton
5. Northern Illinois at Southern Illinois

We are clearly getting Missouri State for Bracket Buster. The MVC (as expected) is dominating the event. Luckily that forces Missouri State into playing UWM, as they cannot play any of the other top 5 teams. Missiouri State is a middle of the pack MVC school, we should have a good chance to beat them on National TV.

-UWMfreak

[PantherLou]

germanathens said:

We are clearly getting Missouri State for Bracket Buster.

We are probably getting them IF we beat Youngstown State, or if George Mason beats ODU.

There are still other scenarios that could play out. We may still end up matched with Bucknell, or George Mason.

[Pantherholic]

Missouri State loses by 10 @ Bradley. they've now lost there 3 straight years. i listened to a little bit of their radio broadcast and their announcers said that they held the best road team record to date for the bracket buster. apparently they've never heard of Bucknell.

[nohopspanther]

They might have been talking about their record ON the road this year.

[sauby]

When do they announce who plays each other?

[SRT4driver]

This Sunday I believe. So Lou's right, the YSU game has much bigger implications now than it would otherwise. With a loss (YSU is RPI #301), we'd likely go from being one of the top-two billed games to being only the sixth best home team (6th today is #35 ODU) , possibly playing a sub-100 BB opponent on regional TV. I don't know about you, but I'd rather that didn't happen.
Our RPI today is 19th, BTW.

[PantherLou]

Today's game is HUGE. It is almost a must win, for a number of reasons:

1. We need a big crowd on Feb 18th. Next year's schedule is already shaping up to be road-heavy, and I assume we will make a concerted effort to get the Bracket Buster at home again. A big crowd will go a long way towards that.

2. As mentioned by SRT, a loss will drop us outside of the top 5, most likely. ESPN heavily markets Bracket Buster Saturday, and who do they focus on? The premier games, obviously. The free exposure we get from being in a premier time slot and getting the publicity is priceless.

3. Related to the above point, you can bet that the JS will also make further mention of the importance of this game. that is IF we are playing a solid opponent. I would not be surprised to see us get a feature about the BB, but again, only if we are a playing a premier team.

4. Marquette plays Pitt at the BC at 8pm the night of the BB. We DO NOT want to go up direct against them. If my memory serves, ESPN usually puts its bigger games on in early to mid afternoon. We want all the leverage we can get to ensure a favorable time slot.

5. Lastly, let me repeat point #1: WE NEED A BIG CROWD FOR THAT GAME!!!!! Two years ago, we drew 4,700 for the game against Manhattan. We must get 7,500+ if we want to be taken seriously. I promise that I will recruit heavily for people to attend, but as much mention as we can get from ESPN and the JS will do so much more.

[SRT4driver]

Everyone should do everything they can to bring as many of their friends, relatives, whoever, to this game.
Heck, I just got back to my tent at 2000 after working a 12 hour day (granted I work in an office, which is a trailer), and will be going to bed now so I can get 6 hours of sleep before getting up at 2:30 AM, trudging through the sand to my camp's internet cafe (which is in a trailer, seeing a trend here ), and paying $5 an hour just to watch my team play YSU.
That's right, I'm going to PAY more money to watch a crappy internet feed with YSU announcers than it costs to actually attend said game. And I'll be overjoyed to do it, because I love my team.
So if you do too, then work harder than you ever have before to PACK THE CELL!

[svk323]

I'm planning an event around the bracket buster for an organization that I'm in, and we've already got 36 people attending the game! I'm super pumped because these are 36 people that don't normally attend the panther games!!! I'm hoping to get them hooked

[germanathens]

From Mid Majority, a couple MVC photos - Missouri State included. www.midmajority.com/blog.php?entry=551

UWMfreak

[Hack]

You beat me to it. ;D

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